Clarity
by lilybelshaw
Summary: Harry's life is undoubtably charmed. Blossoming quidditch career, great friends, and a girlfriend everyone wants but, after a night of celebrating a new clarity comes upon him. Harry realizes that what he really needs in life is something that had been there right under his nose all along.
1. Chapter 1

The night was still young and the drinks were still flowing freely in the Gryffindor common room. Laughs echoed through the room, a celebration that the Slytherin's were undoubtedly not participating in. Earlier in the day Harry had narrowly beat Draco in retrieving the snitch, tying up the game last minute and pulling Gryffindor into the lead. From there he had been carried to the common room where merriment and ruckus ensued.

Although all his housemates were whole-heartedly celebrating, Harry managed to slip away into a seat near the fire, drowning out the party going on around him. Absent-mindedly swirling the drink in his hand, he contemplated the events that had taken place that day. Sure he was thrilled to have won, everyone enjoys winning. But today's game was not quite the same as the others.  
During the match he began noticing things that he never had before. As he was narrowing in on the snitch, his eyes fell upon Draco and he noticed how the sun glinted off his golden locks. As they began racing neck and neck for that tiny golden ball, he noticed just how muscular Draco really was under those robes as he clutched his broom. When they both dove in an attempt to win the game, Harry noticed Draco's subtle but masculine scent as he whizzed past.

Just as Harry began to think about just what these ponderings could possibly mean to him, a small female form plopped into his lap. A drunken Ginny plastered a sloppy kiss on his face, murmured a goodnight, and staggered to bed. Harry watched her wobble up to the girl's dormitory with a perplexed look on his face.

The other boys had always fawned over Ginny. Telling Harry how lucky he was to have bagged a girl with such a nice figure and an amazing personality on top of it, always joking how he better wife her as soon as he got the chance. With Ron always joking about how he could not wait to be Harry's brother in law. Harry however had always chuckled these comments off. Harry of course cared for Ginny, the only issue he realized was the fact it was not a particularly romantic form of caring.

Harry was beginning to feel the effects of the drinks he had had that night as he gazed into the fire. As he watched it dance and crackle in the hearth thoughts of Draco from that day continued to weave in and out of his head. His mind eventually wandered to after the game in the locker room when everyone was freshening up and he began to nod off.

Suddenly he was jolted out of his musings by a drunk looking Ron. The common room was nearly empty and the fire had died down to only coals. Soon a disapproving Hermione mumbling about drunken idiots joined him and being old enough to make it to bed alone, together they helped Harry up into his bed.

As Harry got in bed he realized just how cold the room was. Despite cocooning himself in his quilt he still felt the draft, and he shocked himself when his mind wondered whether or not Draco would keep him warm. A now sobering Harry quickly shook the thought from his mind and closed his eyes. Hopefully the morning would bring clarity rather than a hangover.


	2. Chapter 2

Morning came sooner rather than later and greeted Harry with a mind-shattering headache. As he slowly got up, careful not to aggravate his already throbbing head he noticed that everyone around him was in a similar condition. He laughed to himself thinking it must have been a good night. At that thought he realized just what most of his night had consisted of, daydreaming of Draco Malfoy.

After sitting for a moment pondering that, his stomach loudly growled. Quickly he pushed the perplexing thoughts away and gingerly moved around the room readying himself for breakfast. Although many of his roomies appeared to still be laid up in bed, Hermione would surely be waiting there for him.

Harry plopped down in the great hall hungrily eyeing all the food around him. After a night of drinking he always found himself wanting to consume his weight in food. Hermione looked over the paper she was reading and clucked disapprovingly over Harry's disheveled appearance and blatant lack of table manners. As Harry was shoveling food into his mouth at light speed he noticed a herd of Slytherins stalking into the great hall towards their table, at the head of the pack was none other than Draco Malfoy.

Normally catching sight of Draco left Harry with a sour taste in his mouth, but today his heart began to flutter and what felt like a thousand butterflies flew around in his stomach. This was beginning to feel a lot like what Harrys first crush had felt like.

He had been in muggle elementary school at the time and he became friends with a boy named Tommy. As the school year progressed they quickly became thick as thieves and Harry found himself giddy to see him in the morning. Then one day Tommy did not come to class. And he did not come the next or the day after that. Harry went to his teacher in distress, demanding to know where Tommy had gone. She kindly explained that Tommy had moved away, with that Harry went to the play corner and cried. Although he was still but a child, still too young for true love, for many months to come just the thought of Tommy was enough to make him sad. Looking back, perhaps this was actually his first heartbreak, rather than just a lost friend.

By the time Harry came to and exited memory lane he realized that he had been staring at Draco the entire time, and Draco had in fact noticed. They locked eyes and Draco tossed him a smirk, his eyes glimmering. Harry turned scarlet and quickly redirected his attention to what was left of the ravaged breakfast in front of him. Although embarrassing, Draco's reaction to the staring was puzzling. Normally that interaction would have resulted in name-calling and perhaps a hex on a particularly bad day.

Shortly after Ron and Ginny entered the hall. Ron looking miserable went and sat next to Hermione, who took one look at him and scowled, returning her attention back to her reading. Ginny sat next to Harry, and as she did so he caught a couple boys stealing glances at her from down the table. Next Harry looked at her. Surely she was gorgeous, and really he could not blame the boys for staring. And in everyone else's mind he was so lucky that she was all his. But never in the thousand times he had looked at her had he ever felt what he felt when he glanced at Draco for just a second. Even during their most intimate moments, nothing had every came close to the electrifying feeling a mere glance at Draco had garnered. At that moment Harry realized perhaps his entire life was headed in the wrong direction. Perhaps what he had always wanted was the exact opposite of what he currently had.


	3. Chapter 3

Generally Harry loved school, honestly he did. Perhaps he was not always the best student and Hermione could probably write a novel on all the shortcomings Ron and himself had in the scholastic department. But coming from the upbringing he did he always kept in mind just how lucky he was to go to a school like Hogwarts. However on the mornings he had potions, sometimes it was hard to keep that appreciative spirit alive.

Harry was already running late on one particular potions morning and everything that could possibly have gone wrong did. He woke up late, his shower was cold, he could not find any socks, and his tie seemed to have mysteriously vacated the premises entirely. This series of unfortunate events left Harry sprinting to class and still arriving several minutes late with his glasses skewed and hair more wild than ever. Although he tried to enter the room quietly, everyone inevitably turned towards the door when it opened, with the two most intense stares coming from Draco and his most hated professor.

Severus Snape looked at Harry in disdain and with his mouth curled into somewhat of a snarl as he asked Harry if he was capable of reading a clock properly. With a malevolent glare in his eye Snape informed Harry he had the perfect potions partner for him and pointed to the back of the room. Harry followed said finger and his eyes landed on none other than Draco Malfoy himself. This news left Draco with a shockingly pleasant look on his delicate features and Harry with a lump in his throat that was seemingly impossible to swallow.

The walk to where Draco sat seemed to take forever, all eyes were on Harry as he awkwardly discarded his belongings and sat next to the Slytherin. The class seeming satisfied with their observations turned back around in their seats and Snape resumed his lecture on the bone growing potion they were going to be brewing that day.

Draco took out his quill and parchment and began writing Snape's lesson, seemingly unfazed by Harry's presence. Harry on the other hand felt like the worlds entire butterfly population had taken up residence in his stomach as he too shakily began to write notes.

Finally Snape ceased drawling on about the potion of the day and ordered the students to collect their ingredients and begin their brewing, menacingly warning them not to blow up his dungeon as Neville had nearly done the week before. Draco turned to Harry and with surprising kindness asked if Harry would go get the ingredients from the front of the room while he set up the cauldron.

Harry weakly nodded and quickly went and did it. Upon his return Draco had everything set up and laid out. Prime and ready for brewing. At this point Draco took the reigns and handed Harry the knife and cutting board, silently asking for him to cut and prepare the ingredients. As Harry did that Draco began to brew the potion, quietly humming to himself, seeming to really enjoy the task.

When Harry dared to look up from the cutting board and peak around the room he noticed that periodically the majority of his classmates would steal a glance in their direction. Looking dumfounded that Harry and Draco were coexisting together and making what appeared to be an accurate potion.

Hands were of course flying all over the workspace in an attempt to finish the potion by the end of class. But as time went on Harry noticed that Draco was accidently brushing against his hand a lot. When they would exchange tools or ingredients Draco's hand seemed to linger much longer than necessary. Although these actions confused Harry, they excited him beyond words.

After several more minutes of watching the brew bubble Draco declared it done. He quickly bottled it and gave it to Snape. Together they cleaned their station and sat down. Waiting to be dismissed after the rest of the class had finished.

At this point Harry fully expected to just sit with Draco in silence, which for the most part they did. But as Harry was sitting there idly gazing around the room he suddenly felt a hand come to rest on his leg. That same hand slowly began to slide up and down, coming tantalizingly near his package.

Harry sat silently through these ministrations trying desperately to keep a strait face, and then he felt that same nimble hand gently cup his package. This elicited a gasp from Harry, which caused several of his classmates to turn around and a smirk to be plastered on Draco's face.

Just then Snape called an end to class after Neville unsurprisingly had managed to fill the room with a noxious green smoke. The class quickly rushed out and Snape went to find Madam Pomfrey to treat Neville's potion brewing related injuries. This left Draco and Harry alone in the room.

Harry looked questioningly at Draco, wondering just what had gotten into him. In response Draco roughly pushed him onto the table and gave him a searing kiss. At first Harry just lay still, doing nothing. But at the response of Draco's probing tongue he quickly began to kiss back.

Just as suddenly as he had begun Draco pulled away, looking flushed but satisfied. He gathered his belongings and left the room without another word leaving Harry breathing heavy and more confused than ever.


End file.
